Life in Death
by AkibaSilver
Summary: When a young trainer finds himself thwarting the villainous plans of an evil group, he isn't prepared for what happens to him, nor how others will take advantage of his new-found gifts... Rated T for language
1. 1: Beginnings

"Now… Prepare for the end of the world!"

A red-haired man stood at a machine, connected to a large egg. The chamber in which they were in was far underground, but it was connected to a large cannon stretching out into the sky above. This was the fruition of many years planning, millions of Pokedollars, and several criminal undertakings

And it was about to be taken down by a young boy. Granted, he was almost 19, and he had seven gym badges, but he was still a boy. There was no way Lysander was going to let him win.

"Do you have a long list of clichés you're reading from, or do you think you're being original?" Tobias stared at Lysandre. He had been told by Professor Sycamore that he had been a genius, a billionaire, a philanthropist. Not a world-hating maniac. And you think you know someone…

"So, would you like to hear of my plan before you die?" Lysandre sneered at the boy in front of him. He would humour him, for now.

"Does it happen to involve the giant egg behind you, or is that just window dressing?"

"The egg, since you don't know, is the regenerative form of the Pokemon Yveltal. When the weapon activates, energy will be taken from the egg. The energy destroys life, completely cancelling it out. The weapon currently deployed above Geosenge Town will shoot the energy all around the world, with Team Flare's modifications. Except for Team Flare, safe in this base, everyone and everything on Earth will die. All humanity, all Pokemon, everyone. It is better that way."

"Just because everyone acts like that on the Internet doesn't mean they all deserve to die! Besides, what makes you think you have the right to choose what happens to everyone?" Tobias started shouting at the crazed man in front of him. He reached for his Pokeballs.

"I haven't. We all die anyway. I am just ensuring this will be better for the Earth, rather than letting everyone continue on to forever hurt each other and the planet." He reached for the lever to activate the machine, but his hand was knocked away by a thrown Pokeball, which landed on several buttons before landing on the floor and releasing its occupant- a Gallade.

"You fool… you've doomed us all…"

"Blade, hold him there. What do you mean, doomed us all? More cliché?"

"No… You've started the awakening sequence…"

"You don't mean for the Pokemon?"

"I do. It will awaken and drain the life from us all." Lysandre stood straight and tall, his face a mask. "It will roam Kalos, draining life and razing cities."

"How it that worse than what you want to do? Sounds pretty damn hypocritical!" Tobias was slightly panicking now. This was getting worse by the minute.

"This way, no-one is safe. I had hoped to save some… now, there will be no-one."

Tobias, even panicking, raised an eyebrow. "And yet you had a sequence for waking it up. Why? Are you suicidal or just plain stupid?"

Lysandre ignored him. He set to work on the console, ignoring Tobias and Blade. "Maybe if I can patch it back through…"

The egg glowed a dark black, sucking in all light from the room, casting dark shadows all across the room by draining the light, like a bulb in reverse. It reached a pinnacle, where the blackness was so intense it was too hard to look at, and then it hatched. A large bird was released from the egg, black and red, screeching at the top of its voice. Red energy tendrils stretched from its wing tips to Lysandre, who fell on the machinery, causing the tendrils to leak from him, shorting out the circuits. The base shook, and a klaxon sounded.

"Why do I feel that means this place is going to blow up soon?"

A female voice came on over the loudspeaker. "Self-Destruct sequence initiated. Please stay calm while fleeing for your life. Have a nice imminent death!"

He sighed, although he couldn't hear himself over the noise. He returned Blade, hoping that he'd live. He didn't expect to. This expectation doubled so when he noticed Lysandre body. It flopped onto the floor, eyes wide open, not breathing. He was dead.

Tobias made a break for it, and he felt himself be struck in the back by something. Something that felt bad, that was draining away what kept him moving. Red flashed over his eyes. Yveltal had him. He kept running though, up the large set of stairs, as the base started falling down around him. He wasn't sure if it was a shoddy self-destruct system or the giant bird trying to chase him up the stairs, but this base wouldn't last long.

He couldn't go on much longer. His run slowed down to a walk, pain starting to fill his legs. It could have been running up the stairs, it could be the death rays coming from the bird behind him, but whatever it was, it hurt. He couldn't stop though. If stayed, he was definitely dead. If he made it out, he might survive. He knew which one he'd rather take his chances with.

He struggled up the last few stairs, and made it. It wouldn't be too far to make it out the door. He could make it before… he…

There was a flash of darkness before he found himself on his feet, running as fast as he could towards the exit. He was almost there. He was going to make it!

Or he would have until he tripped up on a piece of ceiling that had prematurely fallen down. "Fu-!" He tripped front. He spun around quickly to look at the head of Yveltal, staring down at him in surprise and bemusement. Or that may have just been the Pokemon's face. Tobias, on instinct, did what he usually did when faced with a strange Pokemon- he threw a Pokeball at it. He didn't see what type, but it flew towards the bird and hit it on the beak. It opened up, converting the creature to energy and caging in in the small ball. He didn't wait to see if it held- he got to his feet, in pain and stumbled towards the exit. He, for some reason, felt extremely tired all of a sudden. He felt an small nudge on his belt and he fell forwards into someone's arms.

"Don't worry. You'll be safe."

"Oh great… More clichés…" He muttered before he passed out.

Hello, and welcome to a new ongoing Pokemon fanfic! I hope you enjoy! Like, share and (please!)review! Bye!


	2. 2: Surprises

"Uugh… Where am I…?" Tobias slowly awoke, muttering his thoughts out loud. His body felt sluggish, like it had been caked in hot tar. He took a moment to think. Of course he wasn't covered in hot tar. So what was up with him?

"Look! He's waking up!" He heard a woman's voice shout, presumably to the other people who were… looking after him. Slowly tearing open his eyelids, he found himself staring at a white ceiling with flickering lights along the roof. He tried to sit up but he was too tired. "Here." He felt a bowl being pushed to his face, with liquid sloshing around his chin. "It's not poison. I swear!" He now had the horrible feeling that it was poison. But he was really thirsty. He sipped a bit of the soup. It tasted nice, and he felt it trickle into his stomach, making him feel slightly better. He had drunk half the bowl when he tried to stand up.

As the nurse picked him up off the floor, he realised he had made a mistake. Even if he hadn't had an IV drip in his arm, he felt way too weak. His head spun and his muscles ached.

"How do you feel?" The nurse asked tentatively. He tried to focus on her, see her as more than an indistinct blob. He stared at her for a few seconds, and his eyes eventually focused. "Hey. You look like-"

"A Nurse Joy? I know." She was dressed in a basic white Nursing outfit, but it looked rougher than usual. The person wearing it didn't look that good either. Like she never had any time off. In contrast to the usual well-groomed look of Nurse Joys, her hair was messier, her eyes looked more sunken. "I used to be one. Until I was recruited."

Sitting on the bed, he sighed. "I had enough of these clichés from Lysandre. If you're not going to tell me what's happened-"

"We rescued you." A figure stood at a doorway he hadn't noticed. He stood there smiling slightly, his hands at his sides, red hair styled to look as if it was flowing in a breeze, even though there wasn't one. "I'm Lance, of the IIB."

He frowned. "No. You're Lance of the Kanto Elite Four. Or possibly Johto. I can never remember."

"Both." Lance smirked. "And no. I'm Chief Operative for the International Investigation Bureau. We were in the midst of thwarting Team Flare's plan's when we found you there. So, I guess we owe you some thanks."

"Yeah. You seemed to be doing such a great job. What tipped you off- the Team Flare café that Lysandre owned? Or was it the fact that he spent all his time going 'Everyone should die'? Or was it, by any chance, the bloody huge holocaster call that he sent to everyone telling them 'I'm sorry, but you're going to die'?" He was agitated now. Even if they were only minutes behind, Lysandre was dead. Yveltal was free. They were all dead!

"Are you listening?" Oh, Lance had started talking. "Anyway, when we arrived, we found Team Flare's base destroyed. There were several dead bodies in the base, including Lysandre's. Thank you for that. It makes it look like an accident, killing him in his own experiment."

"I didn't kill him. I'm not a murderer."

Lance smirked again. "Of course you're not. We know he died by the Pokemon of Destruction, Yveltal, which he was planning to use, presumably, to kill every one of the planet. It backfired, and Yveltal drained his life. We found his corpse underneath the rubble. It was autopsied a few days ago."

"A few days…" Tobias thought, and eventually he realised something. "How long have I been out for?"

The Former Nurse Joy spoke up. "About eight days. I guess I'm sorry. You didn't make it."

The last words took a minute to sink in. "…Wait, what? Are you saying-"

"Yes, you're technically dead." Lance bluntly stated it.

"You mean legally, right? As in, according to the government, I'm dead?"

The Nurse spoke up. "No. When you came in, you had no vitals. No heart rate; no breathing; nothing. But when we hooked you up to an ECG, you still had a brain signal. You're…" She paused, looking for the right word. "Undead, we suppose. Exposure to the radiation from Yveltal seems to be the cause. It would have killed you, except you bonded to the creature, protecting you. It seems that's why it let you capture it."

"…So I'm really dead?"

The Nurse smiled slightly, obviously trying to make him feel better. "Undead." It didn't work.

"And what's this bond thing? And what do you mean, I caught it? I caught Yveltal?" He tried to check on his belt, but it wasn't there. He realised he was wearing different clothes.

"They were burnt and torn. Sorry!" The Nurse gave a guilty smile. Tobias sighed. Great! So he was dead, and his Pokemon weren't here, so he had no chance of getting away from these crazy people.

"How do I know if you're telling the truth?" He raised an eyebrow at the pair in front of him.

"You don't. Of course, this may convince you." He tossed a leather case towards him. It landed next to him. He picked it up, his muscles feeling a lot less sore after a few minutes of being awake. The wallet contained a badge and a picture of Lance, along with details about him.

"Why would this convince me?" He looked back up to find Lance pointing a gun at his body.

He fired, and said, "Not that. This." He smirked.

Tobias couldn't hear him over the screaming he was doing. The bullet tore hit him in the chest, but he felt only small amounts of pain. He watched in horror as his blood started pouring out, only to stop almost immediately. His skin started knotting together, as if the damage to him was being reversed, the bullet being pushed out by the organs re-growing. He would have thrown up, but he hadn't eaten enough for his stomach to respond.

"So, we'd like to make you an offer so you can use your skills to their fullest." Lance strode over to the bed, putting his hands on Tobias's shoulders and looking into his eyes. "We want you to work for us."

He was in shock. "You shot me. Why, on any world, would I work for you?" He spoke emotionlessly.

Lance continued to stare into his eyes. "Of course, we could just cut you open. Experiment on you and your legendary bond. We don't have enough information on this at the moment, so you could provide some interesting autopsy results. Of course, for you, it would be a biopsy."

He thought slowly, not from hunger, but because of Lance's offer. Or, rather, the thinly-veiled threat. He was a really great guy to be around. The Nurse seemed alright though. Way too happy.

"Fine. I'll work for you. On one condition." Lance took his hands off and started walking away. "Did you not hear me ask for a condition?"

"I did. Why I have to answer it, though, is what I don't understand. But I'll humour you."

"What is this legendary bond thing? You said I'm still alive because of it-"

"No. It's keeping you around. Like I said-"

"Fine. I'm dead. But you still haven't said what it is."

This time, Lance sighed. "Simple. Bonds can be formed between some Pokemon and humans, giving those humans powers, of a sort. That is how we classify a legendary Pokemon, scientifically. We try to keep it a secret, and considering you don't know, it seems as though we've succeeded. Yveltal obviously found you… interesting enough to bond with you. I wouldn't try to use any powers yet, though. With your bond, you could kill us all."

He strode out of the room, only to shout back, "I'll have a mission for you in two days. Try to get better."

Tobias attempted to stand up, but a sharp pain shot through his chest. He sat down, gasping. "If I'm dead, and I don't need to, why am I still breathing?"

The Nurse answered. "Force of habit, I guess. Your brain still works, so the bit that controls the vital functions presumably still works." She fluffed his pillow and pushed him back. "You're still weak after being dead for a week. Try to rest. Night!"

She left, and Tobias sat there. He found a remote attached to the side of his bed, and pushed one of the buttons on there. A slot opened on the wall, revealing a window. He looked out of it to see a dark expanse. He could see a moon in the sky, and surrounding him were… clouds? He stood up, slowly, and hobbled to the window. He could see clouds gathered around the window, and far below him, lights. He was in an airship! He sat back in bed, and fell into sleep easily.

Little did he know the next day would involve things a lot more stressful than being shot in the chest…

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know it contains a lot of exposition, but it needed to go somewhere, and I may as well let Tobias know. For anyone who's interested, this story is based around the comments from Professor Sycamore in the Y post game, where he mentions you being exposed to YVeltal's energy. In X this makes sense- Xerneas gives off life. But Yveltal should kill you. And thus, this story is born! I hope to update once-a-fortnight, same as my other fics, but don't be surprised if a chapter gets delayed for a week or two. As always, favourite if you enjoy, recommend to others, and please review- they make my day! Au revoir, my readers!


	3. 3: Awakenings

I didn't say this would update every two weeks- anyone who tells you that is a massive liar or delusional. Or probably read my last chapter. Sorry for the delay; the annoying thing known as real life got in the way. Anyway, on with the chapter!

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><p>"Wake up. We have something for you."<p>

The cool voice reached into Tobias's mind, which was dreaming of him and a rather pretty looking girl, and dragged him out of his sleep, back into the room he had woken in last time. Lance was standing there, holding a tablet that he was scrolling across, and staring at it with loose interest. "Oh, good. You actually survived. After your vitals dropped back to zero, Joy thought you might be permanently dead, with the ECG machine being… borrowed by someone else." His tone became annoyed when he started talking about the machine, giving Tobias the impression that Lance didn't like whoever was borrowing it. That, however, didn't matter to him.

"Has it been two days already?" He rubbed his eyes, feeling awake already. He just wanted to get out of this bed.

"No. It came up last night." Lance threw Tobias the tablet, and he barely caught it. "Your group must have money to spare…" Tobias muttered, looking over the screen. The screen was mostly taken up by a picture of an abandoned building, somewhere, with a small amount of text along the bottom of the screen, giving co-ordinates.

"Any do you want to buy this house? I'm sure it could make a brilliant new base for your organisation." He was slipping back into his usual persona, Tobias noticed.

"Our organisation, now." Lance took the tablet back, correcting him. "And we don't want to buy it. We believe it is infested with some form of spirit, which is beginning to present a threat to the general public." Lance spoke to him like a teacher would speak to an unruly student- impatiently and being as obvious as possible. Tobias did not like this.

"How can a spirit be such a danger to people? Can't we just get a Psychic type in there and-"

"You speak as if we haven't already tried this. Any Pokemon we sent in there never came out, except Psychic types. They walked out, but were silent. No-one could communicate with them in any way. And any humans that went in returned with their minds broken- they were completely insane, resisting any effort to speak sense. All we know is that there is something in there is seriously dangerous."

Tobias was having a slow sense of realisation. "How did you even figure this out?" He was trying to distract Lance for long enough for him to work out what was going to happen. As far as he could tell, this was not going well.

"It was a local dare for teenagers to enter this abandoned hospital as a coming-of-age rite. We picked up on it when a whole group of them were found outside of the entrance, having been in there all night. They were dead; they had slit each other's wrists with a piece of glass. One was rescued, and said two words before he slipped back into a coma: 'The eyes'. We have yet to know what it means."

Tobias came across an idea that he thought could save him. "And you're going to send a robot with a camera in…" He tentatively said the idea, not liking what he could see as the only other option.

"We have tried. It failed. So we're sending in our newest asset." Lance put down the tablet on a table, and looked at Tobias. "You."

Tobias, to put it lightly, wasn't surprised, so much as he was slowly becoming scared of what the heck he was being forced into. "And what makes you think I won't just be driven insane? Which, in case I have to remind you, would be bad!"

"Simple. Your mind, due to the link with Yveltal, contains a psychic barrier, because of its dark typing. This protects you from basic mental invasions, as we learned from several tests conducted on you during your time spent unconscious."

"Why am I not surprised you did tests on me?" Tobias sighed, only half listening to Lance.

Lance continued, ignoring Tobias's complaints. "No dark-typed Pokemon we had access to was willing to go in there, so we have to send in something else. We can force you to go in without anyone getting angry, since you're already dead and have agreed to be a special operative." He picked up the tablet, flicking through until he reached the page he needed. "This will be a test to see if you are worth keeping around."

"And if I fail…?" Tobias was not looking forwards to the answer.

Lance didn't answer, except with a small smile, which scared Tobias more than any words could.

"That is not the answer I was hoping for."

"I don't care. We're dropping you in one hour. Go pick up your Pokemon, eat something, and get ready." Lance got up to leave. "And try not to die again."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Nice to know you care about me so much."

"No. It would just take too much effort to recover your corpse for an autopsy to see what exactly is keeping you around." Lance walked out of the door at the end of this sentence.

Tobias hung around for a couple of minutes, changing back into some clothes that had been left for him: a black jacket, black trousers, and a blue shirt. He walked out of the door into a thin corridor, with no windows. He looked inside an open door just down from his own room to see the Nurse Joy he had met yesterday tuning up a machine, halfway inside the casing. "Hello?"

"Oh!" She tried to remove herself, but ended up hitting her head on the shell. "Ah, sorry! I'm just trying to fix this!" She struggled for a few seconds, before finally exiting and spinning to look at Tobias, smiling, her face covered in grease. "Are you looking for me?" She asked, her voice sounding hopeful.

"Not really, but can you tell me where to find some food? And my Pokemon, what's-his-face-"

"Lance." Nurse Joy corrected him.

"Yes, him. He said I should find them for my mission." Tobias looked at her, eyebrow raised, wondering if she knew.

"Oh, it's a good job you found me!" Joy searched around in the pockets of her lab coat before pulling out a Pokeball. "It's standard procedure for only one Pokemon per operative, to keep things subtle and low-key. And this is the best match for you." She passed the ball to him, and he released the Pokemon inside it. A Gallade stared back at him, briefly glancing at the Joy in mistrust.

"Blade? You OK?" The Pokemon nodded, still on edge. "It's fine. Relax. She doesn't mean us any harm. I think." Blade slightly relaxed, standing more calmly. "Right. So, where are the others?" Tobias looked concerned as he said this, doing a terribly job of keeping it private.

"They're fine. They've been sent to the storage system through a bunch of proxies, to make sure no-one knows you're still alive and accessing it. The only other one here is Yveltal, and you're not having that." Tobias started to question this, but Joy cut him off.

"We don't know if it will listen to you, and it's a very overkill. We do try and be subtle! "Joy smiled at her own comment.

"We're flying in an airship. Subtlety doesn't seem to play a part in it." Tobias dryly responded to her claims.

"A camouflaged airship…" Joy became slightly quieter at this. "Anyway, I presume you'll want some food. It's at the end of the corridor." She smiled at Tobias, trying to make him feel happy.

"Thanks." He smiled slightly at her, and then started walking away, followed by Blade. "So, let's see what this organization that can afford to throw around computers has for food…" He opened the door into a small room, with a couple of small tables and a kitchen attached. There was a window looking out onto the sky, with clouds above the flying ship. There was a plate lying on the table adjacent to the window, with several slices of toast on it. There was also a bowl on the floor, containing several pieces of brown lumps. "I guess that is for you…" Tobias said, passing the bowl up to Blade as he sat down. Blade looked at him, slightly disgusted, and Tobias gave him a piece of toast. "I agree. That's really not good for you." He said, stuffing his own mouth with a piece. Blade slowly ate the slice, bemused at his master's way of eating.

When he was finished, which took less than five minutes, he returned Blade to his ball, and stood up. "Now, where to go…" He spoke aloud, only for Lance to walk in, handing him a backpack. "To the mission. We've arrived at the drop zone."

Tobias was slightly stunned as Lance dragged him out of the kitchen and into the corridor, dragging him down to the other end. "Wait... Drop Zone?" He looked at the backpack as Lance pushed him through the end door, into a small room, with a large, mechanical door opposite. "No… I haven't done this before…" His voice carried a note of panic

Lance grabbed him, putting the backpack on his shoulders. He pulled a cable out and attached it to a link close to the door. "We're at around 3500 feet, and when you jump out, this cable," he flicked the cable attached to the door, with it making a "ping" noise, "will deploy the parachute. When you land, try to make a running stop, otherwise you may break your legs." He paused. "Which would be bad." Lance moved to the door, and typed in a code. Lights above it turned green, and the door began to open.

"Since when did you care about my safety?" Tobias asked, his voice shouting in fear. "You experimented on me!"

Lance didn't answer, and instead strapped a leather bracelet around his wrist. "Good luck." His face didn't make it the comment believable. He left the room, and closed the door leading inside, with it hissing shut, just as the door leading to the sky fully opened. Tobias walked up to the edge of the ship, looking downwards to the ground. The very distant ground. He could see a plain beneath him, with a city a few miles north. He took a deep breath. "Well, here goes…" His voice was lost in the whistling wind, and so was his shout when he jumped out of the ship.

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><p>Sorry this is kind of short, but my current college schedule means that I don't write very often, and I would much rather give you guys short segments rather than making you wait several months between single chapters. Even if I do that anyway... So, as always, please review, and I'll see you next time! Bye!<p> 


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